Residents can choose the bus more often thanks to enhanced evening bus services

People living in Thorpe St Andrew, Thorpe End, Rackheath, Salhouse, Wroxham and Watton will benefit from enhanced evening bus services operated by Konectbus and funded by money secured from the Department for Transport.

The enhanced timetables which launched this week will see more evening buses running on both the 5b and 11a service.

The 5b service which runs between Wroxham and Norwich now has a last bus departing Norwich at 21:45 - significantly later than the previous last bus at 19:10. Coming into Norwich residents can travel from Wroxham at 19:50 and 22:35 - previously having to rely on other modes of transport from 18:50.

The 11a service which operates between Dereham and Watton has an additional 22:00 journey and will connect from the 21:20 service from Norwich.

Cllr Graham Plant, Cabinet Member for Highways, Infrastructure and Transport, said: "Providing later services is something many residents asked for when we developed our bus service improvement plan - so to see these services starting is a great achievement for everyone involved in securing the funding needed to improve bus services across Norfolk. Having buses run into the evening means people can choose the bus more often when making plans and leave the car at home - which is key to us achieving our net-zero ambitions."

A single trip on the services will cost just £2 between January and March as Konectbus are one of the local operators taking part in the fare cap promotion funded by HM Government as part of their Help for Households campaign .

Gavin Smith, Managing Director of Go East Anglia/Konectbus said: "Konectbus are delighted to have been involved with the BSIP funding project, from initial public consultation to drawing up proposals for bus service enhancements, new services, and improved connections with other transport services across our region. The introduction of these new evening journeys is the first enhancement to our existing services which we believe will benefit all passengers and will be included within the Government's £2 bus fare scheme for single journeys."

These are two of a number of service enhancements which are being funded by the £49.55 million funding which Norfolk County Council was successful in securing from the Department for Transport (DfT) to use on improving bus services across the County over the next three years.

Approximately £12 million of the funding has been allocated to provide new or expanded bus routes and increase service frequencies on key routes, including more evening and weekend services.

Bus Minister Richard Holden said: "People up and down the country deserve a clean, reliable, and affordable public transport system. That is why we have provided Norfolk County Council with almost £50 million to boost its bus services.

"Through supporting Konectbus to provide extra services into the evening local residents will now be able to make even more of the fantastic work, business and leisure opportunities Norfolk has to offer."